trapped
between the pages
of an old book
I brought from Cuba
scent of the sea



sandstone cliff
a ladder leads
to the altar
long after
the altar is gone



harvest season
is there a name
for the art
of arranging ripe fruit
on a kitchen counter?


fluttering
against a window
the trapped sparrow
helps me decide to turn
away from rigid thoughts


construction zone
the surveyor's orange wheel
measures
fertile farmland
just before it is paved

Margarita Engle is a botanist, novelist and poet. She lives in central California, where she enjoys hiking and helping her husband with his volunteer work for a wilderness search-and-rescue dog training program.